Democrats eye three seats on Michigan Supreme Court (with videos)

Nine candidates will be on the nonpartisan Michigan Supreme Court ballot this fall, seeking three seats. They are, top row, from left, Doug Dern of Hartland, nominated by the Natural Law Party; District Court Judge Shelia Johnson of Oakland County, nominated by the Democrats; Wayne County Circuit Judge Connie Kelley, nominated by the Democrats; second row, from left, incumbent Justice Stephen Markman of Mason, nominated by the Republicans; University of Michigan law professor Bridget McCormack, nominated by the Democrats; attorney Kerry L. Morgan of Redford, nominated by the Libertarians; Oakland County Circuit Judge Colleen O'Brien, nominated by the Republicans; attorney Bob Roddis of Grosse Pointe Farms, nominated by the Libertarians; and incumbent Justice Brian K. Zahra of Northville, nominated by the Republicans.

Picking judges for the Michigan Supreme Court is at the top of the nonpartisan section of the Nov. 6 election ballot.

In an oddity of politics, judicial races are nonpartisan but Michigan Supreme Court candidates are picked by political parties at their conventions.

At stake this year are three of the court’s seven seats, two of which are held by Republican nominees.

The Michigan Supreme Court has the final say on cases that reach them for interpretation of the state’s constitution.

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The choices before voters are anything but nonpartisan.

Republicans nominated incumbent Justice Steven Markman and Oakland County Circuit Judge Colleen O’Brien for two eight-year terms on the bench. The GOP also nominated incumbent Justice Brian Zahra for a partial term ending Jan. 1, 2015.

At their convention, Democrats nominated Wayne County Circuit Judge Connie Marie Kelley and University of Michigan law professor Bridget Mary McCormack for the two eight-year seats, and Oakland County’s 46th District Judge Shelia Johnson for the partial term.

For Democrats, it’s a chance to shift the focus of the high court, which has four Republican-picked justices and three Democrat-selected justices, and the Democrats running have been doing their fair share of advertising.

McCormack, Kelley and Johnson appear together in one ad. McCormack is in another ad with the cast of the political TV show “The West Wing,” in which her sister had a role.

However, justices nominated by the Republican and Democratic parties eschew the party labels as soon as they’re selected at party conventions.

Republican-nominated justices refer to themselves as “rule of law” judges. And in turn, some have tagged Democrat-nominated judges as “empathy” judges.

Johnson is the most outspoken and critical of the Republican majority on the high court bench.

“The majority of four of the Michigan Supreme Court appears to have lost their ‘mask’ of impartiality and have seemingly systematically succumbed to a political agenda which consistently resulted in rulings that have obliterated established rights of individuals in favor of corporations and insurance companies — in most cases without respect for established case precedent or the intent of the legislature which drafted the laws,” Johnson says on her campaign website.

“The result has stripped individuals from obtaining relief in a number of scenarios, just to name a few: no recovery for most impairments of the body in no fault auto insurance cases; no recovery for workplace sexual harassment; no protection for consumer claims against regulated industries (insurance, mortgage, auto dealers/repair, etc.); limiting union rights to organize and bargain; virtually no recovery in slip and fall cases; limiting time to bring cases even when the identity of the person to sue is unknown,” Johnson said.

Here’s a brief look at the candidates on the Nov. 6 ballot:

— Colleen O’Brien, first appointed to the circuit bench by former Republican Gov. John Engler, has been a circuit judge for 14 years. On her website www.colleenobrien.org, she describes herself as a rule of law judge. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and her law degree from the Detroit College of Law.

— Stephen Markman, 63, was appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court by Engler in 1999, and elected in 2000 and 2004. He is a former assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration. As a supreme court justice, he advocates judicial restraint and a restricted court role in matters of public policy.

On his website www.markmanforjustice.com, Markman says, “I agree with Chief Justice John Marshall who said in Marbury v Madison in 1803 that it is the role of the judge only to say what the law “is,” and not what it “ought” to be. It is the role of your legislature, your county commission, and your city council — comprised of your elected representatives — to say what the law “ought” to be.”

— Brian K. Zahra was appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court in 2011 by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder. Before that, he spent 14 years as a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals and four years as a Wayne County circuit judge.

Like Markman and O’Brien, Zahra says his role is to determine what the law is, not what it should be.

“Determining what the law is can only be accomplished when a judge eliminates personal, social and political views from their judicial decision-making,” he says on his website www.zahraforjustice.com.

— Shelia Johnson has been a district court judge since 2001 and was a private practice attorney before that. On her website, www.judgesheliajohnson.com, she says her philosophy is to “judge fairly and respectfully, without bias for or against any person or organization; to thoroughly research matters and to decide them as expeditiously as possible; to interpret and apply the law accurately, respecting the precedent established in case law and the intent of the Legislature in statutes; to try not to lose sight of good old common sense and real world concerns.”

— Connie Kelley has been a Wayne County circuit judge since 2009. She is a 1978 graduate from the University of Michigan and has her law degree from Wayne State Law School. On her website conniekelleyforjustice.com, she says her philosophy is to “apply law to facts and decide each case on its merits.”

— Bridget McCormack is a law professor and has been Dean for Clinical Affairs at the University of Michigan Law School since 2002. She’s running as “A fresh voice for the Michigan Supreme Court,” says her website www.mccormackforjustice.com. She’s also founder of the Michigan Innocence Project.

Also on the ballot are candidates nominated by the Libertarian Party and the Natural Law Party.

— Bob Roddis, 61, was nominated by the Libertarian Party and has practiced law for 32 years. His campaign website is www.roddisforjustice.com.

— Kerry L. Morgan is also a Libertarian Party nominee. He graduated from Michigan State University in 1977 and the Detroit College of Law in 1981. His campaign website is revivetherepublic.com.

— Doug Dern, from Hartland, is the nominee for the Natural Law Party.

Contact Charles Crumm at 248-745-4649, charlie.crumm@oakpress.com or follow him on Twitter @crummc and on Facebook. More information is at oaklandmichiganpolitics.blogspot.com.

About the Author

Charles Crumm leads the DataWorks team for Digital First Media in Michigan. He also covered politics for The Oakland Press. Read his Elections, Politics and Policy blog at http://oaklandmichiganpolitics.blogspot.com/. Reach the author at charlie.crumm@oakpress.com
or follow Charles on Twitter: @crummc.